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We are continuing our Strange Doctrines series. I've left that for a little while, but we're back on to it now, Strange Doctrines. And, you know, again, what is a Strange Doctrines series? It's basically things that I've heard preached behind the pulpit in churches that I've been part of. I'm not going through every single weird doctrine that's out there, because then I'd just be doing this series forever. Every service we've just been doing this series. No, I'm talking about doctrines that I've actually heard taught behind the pulpit. And why there's sometimes a misunderstanding. And, you know, I don't stand behind the pulpit thinking that I know everything in the Bible, and I'm always going to be 100% correct, and I've always got the right answers. You know, one of the things I actually like about church and different pastors and different preachers is that sometimes different pastors and different preachers are going to have different opinions on certain passages. And I actually like that. Like, you know, for some people, they kind of want everybody to just, you know, we're all saved, right? We all have the Holy Ghost in us. We all have God's Word. And there's this sort of expectation that we're all just going to believe exactly the same about everything. Now, the truth is, if you are saved and you're studying the Scriptures, we are going to be exactly the same about a lot of things, okay? But what I like about the fact that sometimes we have difference of opinions is it causes, you know, people that are sitting in the pews, it causes believers to understand that I can't just rely on one person. You know, it's actually good. You know, if every preacher and every pastor said exactly the same thing, doesn't that sound a little bit like a cult? You know, there are some organizations, I believe the Roman Catholic Church, for example, that from the Vatican, they will pass down the preaching, they will pass down the lesson to every single church across all the world, and they're all saying the exact same things. There are even some Protestant churches that are similar, that they have to basically say word for word exactly what is being passed down from top to bottom. And I like the fact that, you know, we're an independent Baptist church. There's no man above this church. The only one that's the head of this church is the Lord God, and as myself as the Undershepherd, I'm doing the best I can with the experiences that I have, the study that I have with the Holy Ghost to preach God's Word as best as I can. I've got to have a clear conscience before God when I preach certain things. And when you hear things that are slightly different between different preachers, that should cause you to go, well, you know what, I can't just rely on one man, I also have to do my own personal study, I also have to come to my own conclusion, and you know what, even though you're a member of this church, I don't expect you to walk away believing everything exactly the same way that I do. You know, I hope that you see in me a pastor that is willing to teach you God's Word and give you the biblical reasons why I see things a certain way. Okay? And so one of the stories that we're going to be looking at here is in Luke 16 and verse number 19, Luke 16 and verse number 19, and this is not a parable. Many times Christ did teach in parables, and the main reason this is not a parable is because we actually have the names of people here. Okay? When Jesus taught in parables, he did not use people's names. The fact that he's using names means these are real people. This is a real story that we're reading about here in Luke 16. Look at verse number 19. Luke 16 verse number 19. Jesus taught this saying, That the beggar died and was carried by the angels, now this is important, into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. So we start this story with two people, a poor man, a rich man. They both die, but the beggar, the poor man, he got carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. And so the title for the sermon this evening is what is Abraham's bosom? What is Abraham's bosom? There are different opinions out there. And the strange doctrine that I'll be addressing today is people believe Abraham's bosom is a place inside this earth. I mean, most independent fundamental Baptist pastors, most of them, not all of them, most of them will teach that Abraham's bosom is a location inside the earth. Not only is it inside the earth, it's basically in hell. Okay? But it's not the fiery part of hell they'll teach. It's not the place where people are tormented. In fact, it's a place of peace, it's a place of rest, and from that location you can see people being tormented day and night in hell. Okay? And so this is what I'm addressing. Let me just say from the very beginning, I don't believe that for a single minute. I mean, I've never read my Bible and just concluded, oh, Abraham's bosom, that must be a place inside of hell right now. Okay? And this is what people believe. And so what else comes with this idea is that they'll teach, many of these people that believe in Abraham's bosom as a location in hell, will teach that the Old Testament saints, when they died, they did not go to heaven to be with the Lord. They teach that when they died, they went into this paradise in hell known as Abraham's bosom. They'll also call it paradise. I'll show you soon later why they call it that. Okay? And so my belief, and I'm going to show you this from the scriptures, is that the Old Testament saints definitely did go to heaven. Okay? Definitely did go to heaven when they died. And so, you know, the people that believe that Abraham's bosom is a place inside the earth will say, well, nobody went to heaven until Christ died on the cross. And then when he died, he went into this paradise place of hell and took them all out of there and took them all into heaven. And so from the New Testament onwards, everybody that passes away goes to heaven. So obviously I agree with that part, that all two New Testament saints go to heaven. But I also believe that the Old Testament saints went to heaven. Okay? And people say, well, you know, Jesus Christ came at a point in time 2,000 years ago. How is it that, you know, his sacrifice could have caused him to go to heaven? Yeah, because the Bible tells us that Christ is a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Okay? His blood covers all our sins, not only from the time he died to the future, but his blood also covered the sins from Adam, you know, to the last man that lives. Christ's sacrifice is the only way to heaven. So what difference does it make at what point he died on this earth when it was always God's plan for Christ to die for the sins of all mankind? Okay? So really, you know, as a natural reader of the Bible, you're not going to conclude and ask the question or wonder, where did the Old Testament saints, again, you've got to come with a, you know, an interpretation. And what this is known as is dispensationalism. Dispensationism is a interpretive tool that is being taught by Bible college students in how to interpret the word of God. And so they've got this lens, it's like wearing glasses, let's call these glasses dispensationalism. Can I borrow your glasses, Matthias? You can either come to God's word and just read it and understand it, or you can go to Bible college and spend a lot of money, it's going to cost you a lot of money, they'll give you a pair of glasses, these are dispensationalism glasses, and now when you read, oh, angels carried him into Abraham's bosom, oh yeah, that's the place in the middle of the earth. See? Because they've got the glasses on. These told me that's where it is. Okay? But if you didn't have the glasses, you would not have that conclusion. All right? So, anyway, I hope that makes a little bit of sense. So let's keep reading. Verse number 23. And in hell, this is the rich man, and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments, and see if Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. So you can see when someone dies without Christ, someone who's not believed on Christ, immediately as soon as they pass away, they open their eyes, they're tormented in hell. You know, they're tormented in the flame. Not only that, they're very thirsty. You know, if they could just have a drop of water on their tongue, it would provide some relief in hell. Obviously this is not a place that we want ourselves to go or see other people go, which is why it's so important for us to preach the gospel. Verse number 25. And Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. And so there's a great gulf, there's a great chasm. You know, you cannot cross the fiery part of hell. If that's where you end up, you cannot go to, you know, Abraham's bosom. We'll see what that is or where that is. Or if you find yourself being comforted in the bosom of Abraham when you pass away, you cannot cross into hell. Okay? So once we pass on, brethren, our fate is sealed. If you believed on Jesus Christ, you will go to be with Abraham, wherever Abraham is, okay, Abraham's bosom, or you will go to hell. Okay? To the fires of hell being tormented there. So, again, that's the main passage people use to say, well, this must be a location in the middle of the earth because they can see hell. And the Bible's very clear that hell is located in the center of the earth. Okay? Now, what other passages do they use to teach this doctrine? Well, you know, as we've been going through this strange doctrine series, it's been a lot of a Bible study, right? So I really need you to just hold your Bibles and flick as much as you can. But can you please go to John chapter 3? Go to John chapter 3 and verse number 13. John chapter 3 and verse number 13. So right now, all I'm doing is presenting to you their case. Why they believe Old Testament saints did not go to heaven but went to a place in the middle of the earth known as Abraham's bosom or known as paradise. Okay? So John chapter 3 and verse number 13. John chapter 3 and verse number 13. The words of Jesus. He says, and no man hath ascended up to heaven. Oh, that's interesting there. Okay? No man hath ascended up to heaven. So maybe the doctrine is correct. Where did the men go then? Then he keeps saying, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven. So you can see, yeah, that sounds like there's nobody in heaven. And when Christ was walking this earth, it was still under the Old Testament times, right? Because the New Testament did not begin until Christ died. Okay? And then at the death of the testator, the New Testament times came in. And so you can see here before the New Testament, they will look at this passage that no man has ascended up to heaven, therefore they must have gone into a central location inside of the earth known as Abraham's bosom. Can you please now go to 1 Samuel chapter 28. Go to 1 Samuel 28 and verse number 7. 1 Samuel 28 and verse number 7. 1 Samuel 28 and verse number 7. This is the story of King Saul, where he's very close to death. And he feels the Lord has departed from him. He feels he has no direction. And so he goes to see a witch. And his desire is that the witch would bring Samuel, because Samuel was a prophet of God, and for Samuel to give him some counsel, to give him some advice. But Samuel had passed on. Samuel the prophet had died. So in 1 Samuel 28 verse number 7, it says, If you don't know, the word familiar spirit is basically an evil spirit. A devil, basically. She's able to speak to a devil. And then verse number 11. 1 Samuel 28 verse 11. Look at those words. Bring up. That's interesting. If Samuel's in heaven, wouldn't she have to bring him down? They'll say. So he's got to be brought up. And he said, bring me up Samuel. Verse number 12. So she wasn't expecting for Samuel to turn up. She did not conjure up Samuel. The Lord allowed Samuel to appear as a spirit. Even she's surprised that this has happened. She feels she's been deceived. Verse number 13. Look at this. Ascending out of the earth. That's interesting. Look, this is definitely Samuel. Because now you have the narrator of the Bible saying, And Samuel said to Saul, why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? So how many times did we see Samuel being brought up? And so they'll say, see, Samuel as an Old Testament saint, he did not go to heaven because if he went to heaven he would have to be brought down. But he's being brought up. Now, you know, I would say that this passage is probably, in my opinion, is the strongest passage they hold to to teach that Old Testament saints did not go to heaven but actually went someplace in the center of the earth. So right now, all I'm showing you is what they used to teach this. So now I want to show you where the Bible actually just flat out states that the Old Testament saints went to heaven. Because you've got to have one opinion or the other. Did they go to heaven or did they not go to heaven? And again, if someone believes that Old Testament saints did not go to heaven and went to a place called Abraham's bosom in the center of the earth, they're not some wicked false prophet. They might be. You know, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are, okay? There's a lot of good people, a lot of good Christians, a lot of good pastors, again, that I look up to and love that believe this and I'm not saying they're some wicked person. All I'm saying to you is the reason they've come to that is because they've gone to the Bible college, they've taken on a system which has had so many holes in it and they're trying to put on those glasses, they're trying to uphold the doctrines that they've heard in Bible college and these are the verses that they use to teach such things. You know, in reality, you can use the Bible to teach whatever you want. I mean, that's why there are so many cults, that's why there's so many false beliefs because the Bible's a big book and if you just have, you know, you don't have pure motives, you can end up in any kind of teaching. You know, I can teach you from the Bible if I, you know, I mean, I'm not going to do it. You know, you'd have to twist scripture to this but, you know, people teach that the Bible says that in order to go to heaven, you've got to have good works and you've got to be a good person, all those kinds of things and people can use the Bible to say whatever they want it to say and it's no marvel because even Satan himself uses God's word, twists God's word to deceive, you know, God's people. All right, so let me just show you some passages. Please go to the book of Job now. Go to the book of Job and I'm just going to show you some just plain scriptures where the Old Testament saints or saints that lived before the New Testament where they went to heaven, okay? Now, this is my third sermon in this series of strange doctrines. My second sermon in this series was about the sons of God in Genesis chapter 6. Now, you may recall that I told you some people believe that the sons of God are fallen angels and I had basically proven to you that angels cannot procreate. They don't get married, okay? They don't have the seed of man, etc., etc. and that the sons of God that are mentioned in Genesis chapter 6 are human beings. You know, the sons of God are believers, basically, okay? Now, if you just knew what the Bible says, right? For example, in John chapter 1 verse number 12, But as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Then we know that the sons of God are those that have believed on Jesus Christ, those that by faith have trusted God and they became the sons of God. They became children of God, right? Not only that passage, I mean, the Bible is filled with this. In Romans 8.14 it says, And so if we have the Holy Spirit living in us, brethren, we're being guided by the Holy Spirit, the only reason we can have that is because we are the sons of God, okay? A devil does not have the Spirit of God in him. A devil does not have the Spirit of God leading him, okay? So the sons of God are human beings that have believed on Jesus Christ. Even 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 says, We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So who are we, brethren? We are the sons of God, amen? And so any believer, Old Testament, New Testament, that has been saved by grace through faith, the only way they could possibly be saved, it means they become sons of God, they become children of God. So, I mean, that's basic, that's basic doctrine, no surprises there to anybody. So then when we read Job chapter 1, you're in Job, I hope, Job chapter 1 verse number 6, Job chapter 1 and verse number 6, which reads, So when we read that, who are the sons of God? Believers! Human beings that have believed on Christ, right? And who are they presenting themselves to? They're presenting themselves before the Lord. Hey, where's the Lord? He's in heaven. You know, again, if you're just reading the Bible, you know who the sons of God is, this is not a complicated doctrine. Yeah, sons of God in heaven presenting themselves before God. Okay? Drop down to, actually go to Job chapter 2. Job chapter 2 and verse number 1. Job chapter 2 and verse number 1, which reads, Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And they'll say, well, see, Satan's coming along. So the sons of God must be angels. Well, Satan is also the accuser of the brethren. Okay? So if the brethren, if the saints are coming along, if the sons of God are believers, yeah, there comes along Satan trying to accuse the people of God. I mean, why is that so unusual to anybody? I don't really understand. Okay? But we can read that. You know, if we have no ulterior motive, we read Job, we know where God is, we know he's in heaven, and we see the sons of God who are believers, they come and present themselves before the Lord. And that should be that simple, really. That's how simple it should be to know that the saints that lived before the New Testament went to be with the Lord. And, you know, every now and again, the Lord calls on the sons of God to present themselves. Okay? It's something that we learned from the book of Job. But there are some other passages in the Old Testament that we can turn to. Can you please turn to 2 Kings, 2 Kings 2, 2 Kings 2, and verse number 1. 2 Kings 2 and verse number 1. Now we have the story of the prophet Elijah. And we know that Elijah did not die a normal death. Okay? He was taken by God. And it says in 2 Kings 2 and verse number 1, 2 Kings 2 and verse number 1, and it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven. Is that in your Bible? Yeah. Okay. Into heaven. Just make sure. It's the King James Bible we've got, right? Elijah's into heaven by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. So where is God wanting to take Elijah? Into heaven. Okay? Now drop down to verse number 11. 2 Kings chapter 2, verse number 11. And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. So where did Elijah go? As an Old Testament saint. Okay? After the Old Testament has already come into effect with Moses, Elijah's after that, the Old Testament is in play here. Yeah, he got taken up into heaven. I mean we shouldn't have to argue these things. It's so plain. It's plain in your nose. Now look, granted, the Old Testament doesn't mention as much as the New Testament does about heaven. But the ones that it does mention about heaven, you see where are the Old Testament saints going? It's not that he's going to Abraham's bosom. He's not going down, is he? It says that he's been taken into heaven by a whirlwind. He's going upwards into heaven, right? Now, some people might say, well, you know, sometimes heaven is just the sky. And yes, sometimes, yeah, the heavens, sometimes, you know, the Bible tells us that the fowls of the earth fly in the midst of heaven. So yeah, sometimes heaven can be the sky. So to those that say, well, maybe here the whirlwind is just being caught up into the sky. Well, I mean, I think, you know, just like, so what am I supposed to believe then? That, you know, God used a whirlwind, that Elijah went up into the sky and then went back down into the earth. Is that, like, all of a sudden he just changed direction? Or is it more practical, more, you know, just more common sense to say, well, that's the general trajectory that he kept going? He got up into the whirlwind, yeah, passed through the first heaven, the second heaven, the third heaven, and went to be with the Lord. So even the idea that this just represents the sky just makes no sense. It just all of a sudden changed direction. It just seems so unusual for the Lord to, you know, use a whirlwind, you know, to take him into Abraham's bosom. It makes, you know, absolutely no sense. Now, can you please turn to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Psalm 73, verse number 24. Psalm 73 and verse number 24, which reads, Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. So we're talking about the psalmist here speaking about living his life and, you know, while he's living his life, he's being guided by the counsel of the Lord. But then something happens afterward where he's going to be received to glory. He's speaking about his death here, okay, where we often talk about when someone passes on, we say he's been received into the glory of the Lord, right? So look at verse number 25. He says, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. So the psalmist says, look, after I pass away, you know, afterwards I'm going to be received to glory and guess where I'm going to be received? Whom have I in heaven but thee? So where's he looking forward to going to when he gets received to glory? Into the earth? Into hell? Into some location inside the earth? He's speaking to be with the Lord in heaven. This is an Old Testament scripture. Can you please turn to Ecclesiastes? Ecclesiastes, please. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. And I was preaching on Psalm 30 at New Life Baptist Church yesterday, so many of the verses, it just happened to be this way, I had planned already to preach this sermon, just many of the same things will be repeated in last night's sermon if anyone caught that at New Life Baptist Church. Can you please turn to Ecclesiastes, please, chapter 3 in verse number 20? Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in verse number 20. The Bible reads, All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. What's that referring to? Death, right? That we'll create from dust and we're going to return back to dust. And then verse number 21 says, Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth downward? Upward! Upward! And the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth. So do you notice there's a difference between the spirit of an animal and the spirit of a man? The spirit of the man returns to be with the Lord, the spirit of the animal goes back to the earth. You know, your dog's not in heaven, I'm sorry to say this. Your dog does not have an eternal soul. Praise God that you got to enjoy your dog or whatever animal you've got, whatever pet you had, right, on the earth, but look, it's finished. But you can see here, the spirit of man, it goeth upward. Now go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, Ecclesiastes chapter 12 in verse number 7. Just in case someone's like, yeah, upward like the whirlwind with Elijah, but then downward. Just in case. Because in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 in verse number 7, Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse number 7 says, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. So what do we learn there? This is Old Testament once again. Okay, these are the words of King Solomon, right? The Old Testament saints. King of Israel. He says the spirit of man, when man passes on, it goes to be with God. It goes to be with the Lord. Where is God? In heaven. Alright, so I just feel like again, I can just wrap up this sermon now. Alright, let's bow our heads and pray. And we know that the Old Testament saints went to be with the Lord in heaven. And that's it, right? Without my dispensational glasses, without my Bible college degree, and all the thousands of dollars that I spent for someone to teach me that Abraham's bosom is a place in the middle of the earth or something like this, right? We should just be able to end it here, okay? But let's address the passages that they do use to teach, like we started with, let's address those passages that they teach that the location inside of earth where Old Testament saints went, okay? And had a nice view of how people were being tormented forever and ever. Alright, so let's go back to Luke 16. Luke 16 verse number 22. Luke 16 and verse number 22. Look, I know the word bosom is not something we use very often today in our modern vernacular, okay? But if you just type in bosom into an online dictionary or just pull out a dictionary, it's really not that hard, okay? It really isn't that hard. What is Abraham's bosom? Luke 16 verse number 22. Luke 16 and 22. It reads, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Okay. The rich man also died and was buried. Now, what's wonderful about the Bible, even if you didn't want to look this up in the dictionary, okay? The Bible many times just defines itself. The Bible has like an inbuilt dictionary. A lot of times if you're just trying to find something, just read around the passage. Quite often, you know, God will just tell us. And another way, basically. You know, the same thing, just to drive it home to us, okay? So where is Abraham's bosom? Verse number 23. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, that's the rich man, been in torments, and seeth Abraham, so that's a real person, right? Are far off and Lazarus in his bosom. Alright, Matthias, I'll get you to come back up here just for an example, please. So I need, actually I need some rich man. Christian, can you come here as well? So, okay, just come here. Christian, you just stand there. So let's say Christian's the rich man, okay? And who's got more money between you two? We don't know. Alright, you're richer, okay? He died without the Lord, okay? He lifts up his eyes, and he's in hell, okay? Then what does he see? I'll represent Abraham, okay? He sees Abraham afar off, and who's in my bosom? Lazarus, in my bosom, right here. What's a bosom? It's your chest, right? If you go and hug and embrace somebody, you're taking them into your bosom. That's all it is. So what is Abraham's bosom? It's his chest. That's it. Okay, you guys can sit down. It's a place in the middle of the earth. Oh man, are you serious? This is what Bible colleges teach preachers these days. Please, if you have a desire to be a pastor, just avoid the Bible college. Come to church. It's the pillar and the ground of truth. Read your Bible. Read things in context. Don't have crazy imaginations and crazy dreams. The Bible's pretty good. It's self-explanatory many times. It just requires a bit of effort, a bit of work, a bit of study, a bit of scripture comparison. You'll be fine. If you just did those things, you'll fare much better than many, many Bible college students. Promise you that. And you'll have a lot of money saved up in your bank account as well. Okay? Now, they've said, well, you know, some people have said to me, well, if you look at Luke 16, 22 again, it says, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. So they'll say, well, how can it be his chest? Because it's carried inside, right? Inside of it, right? And then you look at, again, in verse number 23, it says Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. See? It's not just resting on his bosom. It's inside his bosom, they'll say. Well, can you please go to, and let me just have a look. You can keep your finger there in Luke 16. Please go to Genesis 16 now. Let's go to Genesis 16. And let's read about Abraham in Genesis 16. This time in Genesis 16, his name was known as Abram. Okay? Not Abraham, but it's the same guy. Luke 16, verse 5. Luke 16, sorry, Genesis 16, verse 5. Genesis 16, verse 5. And this is the story where, you know, God promised Abraham, or Abram and Sarai, that they were going to have a promised child, and they were very old in age. Well, this was a time where they lapsed in faith. And Sarah basically gives him her handmaiden, and he causes another woman, Hagar, to fall pregnant. Okay? In Genesis 16, verse 5, it says, And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee, I have given my maid into thy bosom. So did she go inside his chest? Is that what Sarah is saying? They can see just by that statement. Obviously, this talks about them coming together, alright? Her resting upon his chest and, you know, becoming one flesh in a sense, right? And bringing forth a child. And then it says, And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes, the Lord judge between me and thee. Please go to Exodus, chapter 4. Go to Exodus, chapter 4, and verse number 6. So when Abram, same guy Abraham, alright, took Hagar into his bosom, did she have to enter inside of his, you know, chest cavity or something? No. Into his bosom, you can see here, can also mean resting upon the bosom, being close as it were, alright? Exodus, chapter 4, and verse number 6. Exodus, chapter 4, and verse number 6. Now we're dealing with the story of Moses, when God called Moses to be a leader, right? Back to Egypt and to call the Israelites out of the land, the exile, the exodus. Exodus, chapter 4, and verse number 6. It says here, And the Lord said furthermore unto him, that's unto Moses, put now thine hand into thy bosom. So is God saying you've got to get inside, open up, okay, perform some surgery, and put your hand inside your chest cavity. No. Inside bosom means he's just, he's going to rest his hand right there, right? On his bosom, that's all. And he put his hand into his bosom, and he took it out, and behold, his land was leprous as snow. And he said, put thine hand into thy bosom again, and he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And so, what do we see there? That into his bosom doesn't mean you have to be carried into a location, or, you know, something like that. No, into his bosom can basically mean just resting upon the bosom. The Bible uses that language, that phrase, many times, okay? And there are other passages that I could show you, but I hope that's enough evidence for you, not only with Abraham, but also with Moses, that into the bosom is simply resting upon the bosom, okay? So when Lazarus passed on, a believer of Jesus Christ, right, saved by grace through faith, he found himself being comforted by Father Abraham. And I think that's what heaven's going to be like, brethren, that when we pass on, and we go to be with the Lord, there's going to be other believers, maybe, you know, Father Abraham right there, right, he's the father of us in the faith, other saints that we read about in the Bible, but also our loved ones that have gone before us, they're comforting us, hey, welcome home, welcome to heaven. Yeah, and embracing, going into their bosom, as it were, right? So this is a great comfort, this is great rejoicing to think about these things. Go back to Luke 16, Luke 16, but they'll say, no, no, you don't understand, they're definitely inside of the earth. Because in verse number 26, verse number 26, we know that the rich man is in hell, we know that Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom, right? And I'm basically telling you, yeah, the rich man is definitely in hell, and Lazarus is in heaven with Abraham, you know? And so when we read verse number 26, it says, And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. And they'll say, this is what they'll say, they'll say, see, if someone's in heaven with God, and someone's in hell being tormented, you know, that you can't see each other, you can only see each other if you're both inside of the earth, you know, and this chasm is something that's inside of the earth. Well, yeah, I guess if you're trying to apply physical eyes, you know, the laws of the physical realm into a spiritual realm, I guess you'd have to make that argument, they must be in very close proximity, but this is the spiritual realm, okay? You know, this is the spiritual realm. When someone dies, their soul and spirit departs, okay? We're not dealing with physical eyes here. So what I want to show you is please go to Isaiah 66. You can move away from Luke 16 now. Isaiah 66 for me, please. Isaiah 66. And if you know the book of Isaiah, you know, it's almost like a mini Bible in of itself, right? The beginning is very much like Genesis, and the end of Isaiah is very much like Revelation. It's like a mini Bible, okay? And we know that in the book of Revelation, we read about how God will create a new heaven and a new earth, okay? Well, Isaiah 66 speaks about this new heaven and this new earth as well. Isaiah 66 and verse number 22. Isaiah 66 and verse number 22. It says, So we know this is about the eternal state, right? At this point in time, we've all received our new resurrected bodies. We're all with the Lord. God's created a new heaven and a new earth, okay? And then it says in verse number 23, This sounds like what we read in Job, the sons of God coming to present themselves before the Lord, all right? We're having church service together. But look at verse number 24. And they shall go forth, those are the believers that are worshipping the Lord, shall go forth, look at this, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. So what do we learn about the eternal state when we are with the Lord? That there's going to come a time, a set time that every now and again we're going to look upon those that have transgressed against the Lord, those that have not believed on Jesus Christ, those that have been tormented in hell. In fact, Jesus Christ uses the same language there in verse number 24 about the fire not being quenched when he's preaching about hell. And so what do we learn there? In the eternal spiritual state? Yeah, us that are in the new heavens, we're going to be able to look down and see the carcasses of those that have been tormented in hell forever and ever. And so when we read Luke 16, isn't that what's happening? That there's some exchange, there's some viewing from one location to another location, but even though there is some level of viewing, you cannot cross from one end to another. So what is the separation between hell and where Abraham and Lazarus was? It's the separation between heaven and hell. And once you go to one of those locations, you cannot ever go into the other location. So there you go. You know the Bible, we look at other passages, you can see that there are times in the eternal state in heaven when you can look down and see people being tormented in that fire. Okay, let's go to Acts chapter 2. Please turn to Acts chapter 2 for me. Acts chapter 2. Because the other passage I'll use, as I said, was John chapter 3 verse 13. I'll just read the first part to you again. The words of Jesus Christ which says, And no man hath ascended up to heaven. See, so they must have gone. I mean, Elijah was being caught up to heaven. Okay, so there must be an understanding, there must be an explanation to this. No man hath ascended up to heaven. Alright. Well, you go to Acts chapter 2 please, Acts chapter 2, and look at verse number 34. Acts chapter 2 and verse number 34. This is speaking about King David. And notice the same language that is used to describe David here in Acts chapter 2 verse number 34. It says, Alright, Acts chapter 2. If you guys know your Bibles, you know the New Testament is already in effect. Christ has already died on the cross, he's been resurrected, and then he ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand side of the Father. Okay? So now, this is about New Testament times. And when we read about David here, where is he? Well, it says he's not ascended into the heavens. Now, just look at verse number... Yeah, sorry. Go to verse number 30 please, Acts chapter 2 and verse number 30. Alright, so let me just pause before I read verse number 30. So those that believe that Abraham's bosom is a place inside of the earth, they'll say, see, no one has ascended up to heaven, therefore everyone, you know, in the Old Testament days was, you know, in that location inside the earth of Abraham's bosom. Okay? But they'll say, when Christ died, and we know that he was buried for three days and three nights, they'll teach that basically during those three days and three nights, God himself went into Abraham's bosom, took all the Old Testament saints, including King David, with him, and they all went to heaven then, after he died on the cross for them. But then we've got a problem, we've got a contradiction, if that's true, because David has not yet ascended up to heaven. And that already, this is in the future, from that event. Okay? So how do we understand this passage? What is Jesus Christ teaching us? What are the disciples of the Lord teaching us here in Acts chapter 2? It's really not that hard. Again, we just use the scriptures that are around there, we use the context, and it's very basic to understand. Acts chapter 2, verse number 30, let's start there. Speaking about David, saying, Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with and off to him, that the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, that's important, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. I want you to notice that the flesh here is mentioned. It's really important that the flesh is mentioned here. Okay? Because Jesus Christ would be a descendant of King David. Okay? In the flesh. And then what would happen? We know that Christ would die and that he would rise up again. Okay? Now when Christ rose from the dead, was that a physical resurrection or some spiritual invisible resurrection? It was a physical bodily resurrection. It was a resurrection of the flesh. Right? Now, we know that when he rose again, he still had the nail prints in his hands. Right? He still had those markings of his sacrifice. And the disciples were able to see that. Now let's keep going. Verse number 31. He seen this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. So you can see the flesh of Christ did not corrupt. Right? It did not rot away. Why? Because he was resurrected. We're talking about the resurrection of Christ. A physical bodily resurrection. And if you don't know, if you don't think that he might be physical or bodily, look at verse number 32. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Okay? So they witnessed, they saw the physical resurrection. If the resurrection of Christ was just some spiritual invisible thing, how can they claim to be witnesses of this? No, to be witnesses, they would have had to see the body of Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead. Okay? And then it says in verse number 33. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, so we know when Christ rose from the dead, he went, he was caught up in the clouds, he went to be with the Father, right? Right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. So we know when Christ was resurrected, he had his new resurrected body, and then he went to the right hand of God. He went to the right hand of the Father. So did Jesus Christ ascend to heaven bodily? Absolutely. That's important, the resurrection. He ascended bodily. Okay? And then verse number 34 says this. For David is not ascended into the heavens. So what is this teaching us? That Christ has ascended bodily, but David has not ascended bodily. That does not mean that his soul and spirit did not ascend. It means his body is still in the grave. And yet all Old Testament saints, all New Testament saints that have died, you know, anybody that passes on until the resurrection, guess what? Their body is going to be in the grave, but as we already saw, their spirit goes to be with the Lord in heaven. Okay? And so, I'll just finish reading verse number 34. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he himself saith, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand. The only person that has bodily ascended to heaven in that new resurrected body is Jesus Christ. Christ the firstfruits, and afterward those that are his at his coming. Okay? So when do we receive our new resurrected bodies? When Christ comes back, his second coming at the rapture. Alright? Anybody that has died will soon look at this, will be risen again in their new bodies. Alright? Then we can claim that everybody has ascended up to heaven. So the words of Jesus Christ are true. No man has ascended up to heaven. But again, what are we talking about here? We're talking about in that bodily, new resurrected body, nobody has ascended into heaven in those bodies. That's still a future event yet to come. Okay? So that answers that no man has ascended into heaven. There is no contradiction. We're talking about the physical body, we're talking about the flesh. Okay? Alright, now let's talk about 1 Samuel 28, where we saw where King Saul went to the witch at Endor. Okay? The one with familiar spirits. And, you know, Samuel was brought up. Okay? So what could that be about? Well, first let me just say that this passage of scripture has been hotly argued amongst Christians for the past 2,000 years. Okay? Let me just make that a statement from the very beginning. Okay? There's a lot of opinions out there. You know? Did the woman conjure her up? Was it the work of God? Was it really Samuel? Was it some devil? Right? I mean, there are just so many views and so many opinions out there. You know, and here's the thing. When you've got a portion of scripture that's so hotly debated amongst Christians, okay, you don't want to build your doctrines on something like that. Right? When you build your doctrines, you want it to be on something that is plain, black and white, easy to read and easy to understand. Okay? If you do that, you'll be fine. You don't want to take passages that are argued and cryptic and may mean this, may mean that, and start building your doctrine. That's foolishness. It's silly. Okay? We're already seeing clear passages of believers in heaven in the Old Testament. So let's build our doctrine on that. Right? That's point number one. Okay? But with Samuel being brought up, is it really that unusual to say these languages that he was brought up? Now, you know, this is a very rare event. Right? I mean, it's not often that a passed on saint would return to the earth. Okay? And yet, you know, Samuel appeared as a spirit. Only the witch could see him. Saul could not see him. Right? So it's some spiritual thing. But there are other times that other people have been brought back to the earth. There are other times. Basically, every time you see someone that has died and was resurrected from the dead, every time you see someone like that, right, whether it was Jesus Christ or whether it was some of the prophets or even in the New Testament, some of the apostles did something like this, every time that happens, yeah, the spirit was with the Lord and the Lord has allowed for that process for that spirit to be returned back into the body. And the body comes forth. Alright? The body that's in the grave was brought up. Hint, hint. Okay? Now, let's turn to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27 and verse number 52. Matthew chapter 27 and verse number 52. There is a point that I'm making here. Okay? So when we look at a passage like this about being brought up, we want to look at other passages in the Bible that speak about saints coming back to the earth after they have died. Okay? And again, we don't have that many, but with the ones that we do have, we can draw some truths and then we can see whether the truths that we draw from there work in the story of King Saul and Samuel. Okay? So Matthew 27, verse number 52. This is about the death of Jesus Christ and when he was crucified, when he died, when he gave up the ghost, it says in verse number 52, and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came, look at this, out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city, that's Jerusalem, and appeared unto many. That's interesting. Okay? I can't tell you exactly what took place here except what we read there in the Bible. Okay? But I want you to notice something. That when the Lord allows saints to return back to the earth, where do they begin? Where do they come from? You know, when they go from heaven back to the earth, what is their starting location? What we saw here, the graves were opened. Those spirits return back to the body. Okay? Because it's the body, it's the physical body that allows them to operate in a physical realm. Okay? I mean, when somebody passes away, the spirit leaves the body. And what we read here is that when they return back to the earth, they return back to the body, wherever that body is located. Right? Now, go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 14. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 14. Now we're going to look at the rapture. There's another time when the saints return, the dead saints, those that are asleep in Jesus that have passed on, there's another time when they return back to the earth. And this is at the rapture. This is at the resurrection. I want you to notice again here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 14. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 14. It says, So this is about the physical resurrection. It says, So at the rapture, who's God going to bring with Him? The spirits of men that have gone to heaven. The fact that they're with Him proves to us that they go to be with the Lord. But notice at the time of the resurrection, the Lord needs to take those spirits from heaven and go, alright guys, we need to return back to the earth. And God will bring those passed on ones with Him to the earth. Look at verse number 15. That we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall, look at this, descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. Now notice the next words. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. So what do we learn there? When the spirits of men, the spirits of saved people, come back to this earth at the resurrection, guess where they find themselves when they come back to the earth? In the graves, in the bodies. Which is why they will rise first. So if they're rising, does that mean they're somewhere in the middle of the earth? Down, you know, no. The spirits are with the Lord, the Lord brings the spirits, time to come back to the earth, they find themselves in their bodies, and then from there, they rise up. Rise up. But their location was where? Heaven. They were with God. So when we think about the story of Samuel and Saul, Saul and Samuel, right? Samuel was brought up. Well, if we look at the passages that we've already seen, where when the spirits return back to the earth, their starting point has to be their physical body. So if we understand those truths, and then we understand that God allowed Samuel to be brought from heaven, guess where he's going to find himself on the earth? In that body. And then he's going to be brought up from that location, and that would make perfect sense as we read there, once again, the dead in Christ shall rise first, even though they were brought from heaven with God, even though God brought them with him. And so the bringing up is not that they're coming from a center place, Abraham's bosom, paradise, whatever you want to call it, in hell, no, they're being brought up from their dead bodies in the graves under the earth. I hope that makes sense. Okay? Alright. Now, please turn to Luke 23. Turn to Luke 23. You might say, Pastor Kevin, does this really matter? You know, people that believe this, doesn't really, you know what, to some extent it doesn't matter. But one thing you'll notice, you know, as you study the Bible, when you're wrong about something, it really starts to affect other passages in your Bible. Like it really starts to mess up your understanding. And you get this wrong, you're going to start thinking that, you know, devil's basically married women in Genesis 6, or something like that, okay? I mean, these things do lead one thing to another, okay? And so there's always ramifications to false doctrine, even though the person, I'm not saying he's unsaved or anything like that, okay? There are a lot of people that believe this. Luke 23, please. And the reason we're turning here is because the other place they like to call Abraham's bosom as far as the location of the earth, they also want to call that paradise, okay? And the reason they like to call that paradise is because of this story here in Luke 23. Luke 23. All right, Luke 23, verse 42, this is Christ on the cross, and obviously he's dealing with a thief that believed on him here. In Luke 23, verse 42, And he said unto Jesus, that's the thief on the cross, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, Today, okay, when? Today, the very day they're in, right? Shout thou be with me in? And they want you to read Abraham's bosom there, okay? In Abraham's bosom, in hell, in the paradise of hell. That's what they, that's what, again, dispensational, Matthias, dispensational glasses, please. All right. Today, thou shalt be with me in hell, in the center of the earth there, in the good place of hell where it's not on fire, where Abraham, we can enter that place called Abraham's bosom. That's Bible college right there, okay? I mean, you can go to Bible college if you want. I'm not going to stop you. I'm not going to stop you. You do whatever you want, brethren, but, you know, I don't recommend it. Thou shalt be with me in paradise. But they, see, because this is still Old Testament. Christ is saying these words, you know, in their theology, Christ has not yet gone into Abraham's bosom to take them out of there, to heaven. So when they think about this, this is a bit challenging. Well, paradise must be Abraham's bosom in the center of the earth. Do you see how they see it that way? Okay? And then it says in verse number 44, Notice the next words of Jesus. Sometimes I feel like people just read these things too fast. I want you to pay attention. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, now where's the Father? In heaven. Father, into thy hands I command my spirit. Okay, where did the spirit of men go when they die? We read it in Ecclesiastes. They go to be with the Lord. Now we know his soul went to hell. I'll touch upon that some other time. But the spirit of Christ was given into the hands of the Father. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. So we read there that ghost and spirit, same word. The Holy Spirit is the Holy Ghost. Ghost means spirit. So he gives up the ghost, he gives his spirit to the Father in heaven. And so when he says to the thief on the cross, I shall be with me in paradise, it's because Christ's spirit was in heaven. Okay, and where's paradise? I mean, that should speak for itself. Paradise must be where the Father is. That should speak for itself. They'll say, no, no, no, no. Christ here, he went to Abraham's bosom in the center of the earth, which is also called paradise, they'll say. Well, I mean, where is that in the Bible? You know, where in the Bible do you read about the location of paradise being in the center of the earth? Now, if you just look up the word paradise, the Bible actually tells us where paradise is. We don't need a Bible college to tell us where paradise is. We just need God's word to tell us where paradise is. So please take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Actually, let's read verse number 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number 4. I want you to turn here and look at this with me, please. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number 4. It says here, how that he was caught down into paradise. No, how he was caught up into paradise. So we know paradise is upward, right? And heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Now, let's read verse number 2. 2 Corinthians 12 verse number 2. It reads, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such and one caught up to the third heaven. Okay, so the first heaven is where our birds fly, it's where our clouds are. The second heaven, sun, moon and stars. The third heaven, guess where that is? That's where God is. The third heaven, all right? And then it says in verse number 3, and I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how he was caught up into paradise. So look, the Bible's telling us the location of paradise right now. Where is paradise? Heaven. Heaven, the third heaven specifically. Not just a whirlwind in the atmosphere and then back to Abraham's bosom. The third heaven is where paradise is. So as Bible-believing Christians, shouldn't we just read that and go, yeah, Christ said today that shall be with me in paradise. So even this Old Testament saint, the thief on the cross, he went to heaven. That's another proof for you that Old Testament saints went to heaven. Right? Now, go to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. And verse number 7. Because there is another mention of paradise, and I just want to show you this, because is the Bible consistent or is it not consistent? The Bible's consistent. Okay, it's man that complicates things. It's man that gets confused and, ah, man, I'm sick of men sometimes. But here's the thing, I'm made of the same flesh and blood. But anyway, Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 7, the words of Jesus Christ. Revelation 2, verse number 7 says, Hear that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh, that's someone that is saved, by the way, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Okay? So the paradise is mentioned once again. The paradise of God. You say, well, what do we learn there? Well, we learn that the tree of life is in the midst of the paradise of God. Okay? So one way to find out where paradise is, is to figure out where this tree of life is. Amen? Make sense? Okay. So let's go to Revelation 22. Revelation chapter 22 and verse number 1. Revelation 22 and verse number 1. The Bible reads, And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. So where's the throne of God? Verse number 2. In the midst, remember there was something in the midst of paradise? What was that again? The tree of life, right? In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manna of fruits and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. So what else do we learn about paradise? It's where God's throne is. The throne of God and the throne of the Lamb. That's where paradise is, where the tree of life is. Where is the throne of God, brethren? Heaven. Heaven. Do you really think the throne of God is some in the middle of the earth, in some paradise inside Abraham's bosom? I mean, if you've never heard this before, you probably think this is such an easy doctrine to debunk. I think. But then so many of our churches, so many of our brethren, so many independent Baptists teach this, not just them. There are other denomination groups and Protestants that teach this thing. But again, where do they get that from, brethren? It's not from the Bible. It's from their Bible college. It's from their dispensational glasses that they've paid thousands of dollars to wear. Okay? And so that's pretty much it, brethren. What is Abraham's bosom? That was the title of the sermon tonight. What is it? It's his chest. You know what? And when we pass on, hey, I think that would be a great place to find ourselves. You know? We pass on being carried by the angels into Abraham's arms, and he welcomes us home in paradise, in the third heaven, to be with the Lord forever. Okay, let's pray.